Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
When she first glimpsed his shooting skills, they were nothing more than a beginner’s.
It was exactly the level of skill one would expect from a mage aspiring to be a ranger.
Selena’s judgment was accurate.
However, Lev Denec began to put in more effort than anticipated.
Even when professors would occasionally visit to assess the students’ talents and potential,
-Whoosh!
He paid no attention to them, didn’t bother with flattery, and simply focused on practicing.
As days turned into nights,
There were days he would drag his exhausted body to practice even at late hours.
By the time Selena started paying attention to Lev, his growth was more remarkable than she had thought.
It was no longer the form of a ranger that could be achieved simply through practice.
Perhaps a slight exaggeration, but it was the sense of a marksman who had actually aimed at a living target and felt the thrill of the kill.
She was realizing that he was someone who wouldn’t feel out of place running alongside her towards the same goal.
As she observed his progress, Selena was able to confront herself once again.
His relentless practice, despite starting at the lowest position among the ranger ranks, was commendable, leaving his past deeds behind.
That’s why she wanted to help him even more.
So that he could move forward without crumbling against the wall of talent, just like she once did.
At first, she only intended to correct his posture.
‘I’m sure that’s how it was…’
-Whoosh!
The crossbow, which everyone had mocked, his weapon that was deemed lacking in both individuality and power,
Now launched bolts as if it had become an extension of himself. He had reached a point where anyone would recognize him as a true archer.
Even she, who couldn’t use wind archery,
Her past, where she had to swallow the words that called her “half-baked”…
-Clench…
Selena unknowingly tightened her grip.
Lev Denec.
He was the first to extend his hand.
It was probably a handshake, a part of human culture.
Although she was quite conservative when it came to the opposite sex,
He was destined to be expelled if he lost the duel.
Perhaps it would be their last encounter.
Wouldn’t it be okay to have this kind of closure with him, considering their complicated relationship?
As if reaching out to her past self,
In the end, Selena took Lev’s hand in hers.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
-Click.
As I held Selena’s hand, a status window appeared.
‘Skill Steal.’
.
.
.
Through ‘Skill Steal,’ I was able to peek at the ranger skills that Selena possessed.
‘Wind Archery…’
Among them, the ‘Wind Archery’ I was looking for was, as expected, in the unselectable skills.
‘As expected.’
‘Wind Archery’ was stuck at level 0 due to the Shaftie curse.
Other elves would normally start at level 1 as soon as they met the wind spirit.
Even though she was the third main heroine in ‘Reincarnation Hero,’ the author of ‘Reincarnation Academy’ prevented her from using ‘Wind Archery’ until chapter 3.
Kaelan in chapters 1 and 2 wasn’t interested in Selena, who was an ordinary archer, so her presence remained faint until the later stages.
‘…Thinking about it makes me mad.’
Anyway, this situation was actually beneficial to me.
The condition for ‘Skill Steal’ was that it could only target skills lower than any of my own, so at the moment, I could only steal ‘Absolute Vision’ at level 1.
Moreover, it didn’t even allow duplicate levels.
So it was essentially an unusable skill.
However, if I lifted the deactivation on ‘Wind Archery,’ Ihe could exploit the system and obtain
the level 0 ‘Wind Archery’.
Specifically from Selena.
As if to prove this point, there wasn’t even an acquisition difficulty set for it.
It would be a jackpot if I succeeded.
I calmed my excited nerves and focused.
Then, as I used ‘Abyssal Healing,’ which I had registered in my skill window beforehand,
-Whoosh.
All the mana in my body drained instantly and transferred to Selena.
This decision would have the most significant impact of any choice I’ve made so far.
It was because she, a perfect archer except for ‘Wind Archery,’ would be able to use it.
-Ding!
[Curse successfully lifted: Shaftie family curse]
Is it done?
It was truly nothing special.
In terms of the game, it was just removing a debuff that was on her status.
This is the beauty of the classic.
At that moment, Selena spoke, slightly uncomfortable.
“How long are you going to hold on?”
“…”
“Is a human handshake this long?”
There was a trace of confusion in Selena’s otherwise steady expression.
She tried to pull her hand away.
I didn’t let go.
“…?”
-Squeeze!
Because I had to use the next skill, ‘Skill Steal.’
-Cha-ching!
With this, the skills available for me to choose from her were rearranged.
‘Yes!’
The four words that caught my eye.
‘Wind Archery,’
And it was selectable.
I mentally cheered and chose ‘Wind Archery.’
A skill exclusive to elves,
It was as if I had obtained a hidden skill.
The game would become much easier now.
How could they possibly counter the theoretically possible combination of Stealth + Wind Archery?
As I gradually released my grip, Selena shook off my hand.
“Any further contact is unnecessary.”
“Ah, sorry. I was just so happy.”
“…?”
Then, calming my elated heart, I gathered my belongings.
I had a new task to do.
This level of ‘Wind Archery’ wasn’t enough for me.
Selena’s expression held a hint of puzzlement, as if she was thinking, ‘What was that?’
“Congratulations.”
“What…?”
“You’ll have good news.”
Leaving her in a state of confusion,
I quickly exited the archery range.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Selena was left alone in the practice room.
After Lev left, she looked at her hand.
“…”
As the heat from their touch subsided, a gentle breeze seemed to blow, cooling her hand.
This was probably the first time Selena had held a man’s hand.
Handshakes were a human tradition, and there was no reason for her to engage in such behavior, except for a few elves who interacted with humans.
Even Gailon knew that Selena intensely disliked physical contact and tried not to touch her unnecessarily.
“Why?”
But her handshake with him somehow…
Ultimately, it wasn’t too bad.
If it had been unpleasant, she would have pulled away immediately, but during their handshake, she felt an unexplainable tingling sensation, as if something that had been suppressed was being released.
Lost in this mysterious feeling,
-Ah, sorry. I was just so happy.
-Congratulations.
-You’ll have good news.
He left, muttering incomprehensible words.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The word that stuck with Selena the most was ‘happy.’
Happy? About what?
Happy to shake hands with her?
Selena, who had no interest in anything but archery, started to feel confused.
However, in times like this, she preferred to cool her head.
“Calm down.”
Closing her eyes and thinking, it seemed like she could summarize the situation in one sentence.
‘Lev Denec…’
And she calmly recited that sentence as if reading a poem.
‘Lev Denec has feelings for me.’
With his personality that attracted trouble, the joy he felt must have been due to external stimuli or another person.
Therefore, he was happy to shake hands with ‘Selena.’
Of course, from this perspective alone, one could think he was happy to have ‘Selena help him with his training.’
But there was a decisive clue.
Humans tend to leave a situation when they can’t hide their feelings.
It was one of the selfish human behaviors she had observed since she was young.
Lev Denec also swiftly disappeared.
Considering the current situation, his intentions weren’t necessarily bad.
In short, it was reasonable to see it as an act stemming from embarrassment.
“…Sigh.”
Selena sighed softly, having thought this far.
She was genuinely impressed by Lev Denec actions.
However, Selena had no interest in human relationships,
And most importantly, he was someone who might leave soon.
It wasn’t a situation she could seriously consider.
‘Still, I should go see the duel tomorrow…’
-Thud!
At that moment, she heard something fall in the distance.
When Selena turned towards the sound, there was no one in sight.
It was past midnight, so the students had all gone back.
And what had fallen was…
A potion, quite popular among students and often out of stock, known to be good for fatigue recovery.
“Consider it repaid.”
Selena murmured the note scribbled on the corner of the potion and gathered her belongings, heading back to the dormitory.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
At the Raphae dormitory of Clarice Academy,
Aria, who had returned to her room like Selena, sat on her bed, hugging a pillow.
It was a day when her favorite pudding was available for takeout.
She had bought it to eat after her practice, but she hadn’t even opened the package.
She had witnessed it.
The blossoming relationship between Lev Denec and Selena.
Of course, she knew they were training together.
She felt obligated to keep an eye on him, so she occasionally went to check if there were any problems and cast recovery magic on him.
Fortunately, she didn’t sense the black magic that had been the source of her suspicion.
He was genuinely training, and training some more.
However, when he finally clasped hands with Selena,
His mana fluctuated.
It wasn’t black magic, nor had he cast any spell…
Therefore, there was only one explanation.
All his mana was momentarily disrupted due to emotional reasons.
If a mage couldn’t concentrate, their mana became unstable, leading to spell failures.
Aria had witnessed this many times from Melissa.
In conclusion, Lev Denec was once again flustered enough by Selena to lose all his mana while trying to do something.
“Were you that happy…?”
For some reason, Aria’s tone had become businesslike.
They had bumped shoulders in the swaying carriage in Ebenbahu,
Their fingers had brushed while he handed her a recovery potion,
‘I was going to repay him for that potion…!’
And there had been unintentional physical contact under the blanket.
He hadn’t shown any mana fluctuations while healing her, even though it took quite a while.
-Bury…
Aria buried her beautiful face in the pillow.
She felt like she had lost something.
Aria hadn’t yet defined her feelings for Lev Denec.
However, her assessment of Selena was clear.
As an elf, she was beautiful, tall, and had a great figure…
‘She was indeed stunning…’
Sadly, as a commoner, Aria had never given much thought to her own appearance.
Even though many nobles might have envied her exceptional beauty…
“Wait a minute…”
Aria lifted her head again.
Her beautiful lavender hair cascaded down like silken threads.
He might be targeting only the popular girls in school.
Think about it.
When his mana fluctuated significantly, it was definitely…
“Lady Yeriel… Lady Selena, and… Lady Melissa also felt it… and…”
These three were indeed beauties.
“Master Edwin…?”
“…”
-…
‘…No, that can’t be right.’
It had been a long night, a night when a chain of misunderstandings almost took root.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Dodged a bullet there
What do you mean dodged a bullet?
He just got grouped into the BL team..
Almost got BL’d. Aria dismissed the idea, hence he dodged a bullet.
She almost thought that he was bi